What total Etsy fees do you really pay as a seller in the UK?
This is not an attempt at Etsy bashing – there is plenty of that going on around the web already. I do really like the site, and have sold most of my pottery through them. Total Etsy fees may have changed since the time of writing.
I have just been looking into exactly the total fees I am paying on my sales. All this info is available on the Etsy site, though a little bit of digging is needed.
Doing a quick Google search for ‘what are Etsy fees’ will probably return a page like this . A quick scan may leave you thinking the total fees are a 20 cent listing fee, plus a 3.5% transaction fee, which is calculated excluding any shipping or tax you may charge.
This seems fair enough, but just below is a column for ‘direct checkout’ with no numbers, but a link saying ‘varies by country’. This page contains the processing fee – an additional fee to the transaction fee!
For the UK the processing fee is 4% plus 20 pence per order. Note that the 4% processing fee is calculated on the sale price including postage and tax!
Total Etsy fees calculation :
Pottery price £10
Postage price £3
Total sale price = 10 + 3 = £13
Listing fee = 20 cent = £ 0.17
Transaction fee = 10 /100 x 3.5 = £0.35
Processing fee = (13/100 x 4) + 0.20 = £0.72
Total fees for this sale = 0.17 + 0.35 + 0.72 = £1.24
In this example the total fee costs compared with cost of the pottery is (1.24/10) x 100 = 12.4%
This percent with change depending on the ticket price of items, due to the set listing fee and 20p processing fee, but no sales will manage a total fee of less than 7. 5% for the UK sellers.
It seems sellers in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand get the sweetest processing fees deal.
Like I said at the start this is not an attempt at Etsy bashing, I will still use the site – if they don’t delete my account after this post. I think I may look at other options to sell my pottery though, and try and compare all the fees. I will keep you posted!
I currently sell most of my pottery here on my own website. Please take a look at my range of handcrafted mugs.
9 comments
Hi, thanks for the info, i’m also really confused with etsy fees and i noticed they take from payment and the bill? so all i’m trying to figure out is, when i add up the total cost of an item, how much percentage in total do i add on to each item so i don’t lose money? Thanks if you can help
Hi there this was very helpful, I am just setting up a business selling hand crafted items and vintage finds online. I am starting with an Etsy shop. I have researched that I can claim all postage costs and selling fees back in terms of tax return. I think therefore there is a case that not charging for postage would cut unneccesary processing costs. I need to check this is also applicable to etsypay as I have read it is for Paypal. I do need to get my head around whether I would though be pushing up my profits in terms of taxation? I am confused as it seems all costs can be offset but would that just make profit higher and more liable to taxation? All needs considering doesnt it, although I am only a small business so I doubt to be taxed much anyway. Thank you for taking the time to explain the abpve though, very useful x
Hi Tom
Thanks for posting this full list – I was struggling to work out exactly what was involved and this will certainly help me to make a decision. Like you, I’m going to have a look at Folksy – I think it might be a better option for getting started with my new craft business.
Best regards
Sally
Thanks for this! I found it very helpful at trying to understand why they are charging me the figures they are.
I wish they would just make it clearer and offer examples like you have. I see no real reason why they make it as hard as they do to understand the final costs involved.
Thanks again!
Stuart.